In the Long Run

I love the variety of merchandise available. A person can find just about anything imaginable on the web—from giant plush microbes (e-coli and ebola are a little distasteful-looking, but the mono microbe is quite cute and cuddly) to a heated toilet seat (heats to a comfortable 25 degrees Fahrenheit above the average room temperature, and costs only pennies a day).

On-line shopping can be quick and easy. But the forms, you say. I have all my information stored in a free web form filler that completely automates password entering and form filling. I click on “fill forms” and my vital info appears instantly in the right boxes. (Of course I check to make sure the site is secure before making any purchases.)

Many on-line vendors offer free shipping during the holidays, and with a little website comparison shopping, all done from the comfort of my swivel office chair, I can get some pretty good deals.

However, I’ve learned that some of those same benefits can also be banes if I’m not careful. For instance, with so many fascinating products out there, I tend to spend way too much time browsing and comparing and googling until my internet history for a single online shopping encounter scrolls down over two monitor screens. It becomes an obsessive compulsion to find not only a good deal, but the best deal, which can take a bit of time.

When I find a particularly good bargain, I click the web form filler, and buy it. That warm, fuzzy, (I could be a new plush microbe--the shopping bug) successful feeling makes it so easy to start a new search all over again, and buy more…and more... If I’m not careful, the cost, even with all the “bargains”, can rival the time issue as a serious matter for evaluation.

I’ve just about finished up my shopping, and I fear a let-down. I may have to add distant relatives or casual acquaintances to my gift recipients’ list so that I can keep shopping. I saw a neat LED blow on-off candle (a puff of air is all it takes to turn it on or off) and a personalized smiling frog or duck stethoscope cover (to help ease the fright and worry of little ones at the doctor's office and put a smile on their faces). Any takers? I’ll scour the net for the best price.

Posted by Cyppy at 10:04 PM